Canary Islands

After our day in Madeira, we ate dinner in the cabin. Room service on this ship is fast, very helpful, and friendly. The room service menu for each evening is on the TV. We tuned to the Room Service Channel and wrote our choices on a sheet of paper, so as to be ready when we called. I was particularly looking forward to the vegetarian chili. Just as the desert menu was popping up, the screen went blank. Never mind, we had the main stuff noted down.

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Michael pressed the room service button, and as always got the Spa. They must get a hundred calls a day, but the line has not yet been rechanneled, nor the button renamed “Spa”. As she ordered I heard her say “Oh”, and “But we..” and, “We’ll take the ravioli and the Coq a Vin”.

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What happened to my vegetarian chili? Well, you see that was last night’s menu on the TV screen, which is why the screen went blank. This cruise is cursed.

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The food was very good, and it was fun to lie there, eat, and watch CNN International give the Cricket scores.

Voyager docked in Santa Cruz at 8 AM, tying up some distance from the entrance to the port area. City supplied shuttles, well, shuttled back and forth to the port entrance, which conveniently was only a short walk through a pretty park to a blocks long pedestrian shopping mall.

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The Euro, when we left Los Angeles, was about 1.6. As I write this, it is 1.3. Even with the dollar being weak, the prices at the stores were surprisingly reasonable. I got a good-looking sport jacket and pants which translated into Macy type prices. Michael kept forcing long sleeved T-shirts on me. They all had some sort of writing on them and she was adamant that shirt script was “in”. I am now “in” and, according to my shirt, a member of the 55th West End Avenue Winners.

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No, I didn’t see one canary!

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I’ve now been to two Portuguese (My spell check says this is the way to spell Portugese.) cities and have come across something that to me is quite bothersome. I can’t get a smile out of anyone. Usually, in every country and town I visit, I smile, someone smiles back. Well, at the least, one in twenty. Here in Portugal, no one. Even after being tipped, their lips stay compressed. Even when I say thank you in Portuguese, they can’tÂ be pried open.

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In their youth on their Grandfathers’ knee they must have been taught the ancient acumen:

“If you want to chew our fare,

Don’t give your teeth any air.”

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Show time last night. Michael sent me along alone and said you’ll be back soon. The show “Broadway Rhythm & Rhyme” was beautifully staged and done with enthusiasm. As the song says, “But not for me”, and Michael’s prediction came true.

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I skipped the Singles mixer at 9:45 PM but was baffled by the concurrence in the same room just fifteen minutes later with the game show, “Battle of the Sexes”.

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Today is our first full day at sea with 4 more to go. The ocean is calm, but it’s still a bit chilly. For some reason, we can’t stay awake. We read, we sleep, we eat, we sleep, we read. Michael has finished one thick book, and today went to the library to find another biography. Advice to all cruisers crossing the Atlantic; get to the library early!

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Checking out the activities today in the Cruise Compass, it heralded a game show called “Majority Rules” hosted by our Cruise Director, Karen, scheduled at 2 PM in the Aquarium Bar.Â Michael passed, but I wanted to see how it worked. Passengers gathered and by 2 we had about 25 to 30 people waiting to play. Karen welcomed us, and said that there would be teams of six for this FUN scavenger hunt. This cruise is cursed.

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In the full elevator heading back to the cabin a woman in her nineties was asked if she was traveling with a group of three ladies. “I’m alone,” she said. “That way I don’t have to listen to anyone.” We both got off on the same floor and as we left the elevator, I said, “Now you have to listen to me.” The elevator group laughed, she did not.

One Response to “Canary Islands”

So; Reality is a tough gig, but it pays the bills…my advice (and No, you didn’t for it) Spend less time in elevators (read that as Take The Stairs) and don’t sleep your life away! O.K. Dad. Later much much later.